News Story
CALL FOR FLEXIBILITY
Employers have started adapting to job vacancy growth in a skills-short market by becoming flexible in the level of experience required by candidates for their vacancies. This is one trend revealed by specialist recruiter Hays in its April-June Hays Quarterly Forecast, out this week.
“In many cases, businesses will now employ candidates with the right attitude and softer skills rather than specifying a particular experience level that a candidate must attain before being considered for a vacancy,” says Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore.
“This is a positive step because the battle for the right candidate will not be won by recruiting candidates against the exact requirements; there are simply not enough candidates for many skilled vacancies (see below hotspots list). Instead, employers can identify the qualities that make someone successful in their organisation, then recruit a candidate that possesses these attributes and train them in the technical aspects of each particular vacancy,” said Chris.
Another trend revealed in the latest Hays Quarterly Forecast is that candidates have begun moving in and out of the job market very quickly, often with limited commitment to their next employer. “Broadly speaking, an unhappy employee will leave immediately rather than working out the issue with their current employer,” says Chris. “The turnover of candidates leaving within their probation period has also increased as some jobseekers will leave if they find the role unsatisfactory in any way and are confident in their ability to find another, more suitable role.
“Another major trend is the focus on attraction and retention in markets that hadn’t previously made them a priority, such as the engineering market. For example, the first quarter of 2008 has seen performance bonuses, employee incentives and flexible arrangements entering engineering salary packages. This is allowing engineering firms to attract and retain candidates based on more than just salary alone.”
Hotspots of skills in demand
In summary, the Hays Quarterly Forecast reveals the following hotspots of skills in most demand across Singapore:
Banking
Currently, compliance, risk, operations control, re-engineering and transformation are areas receiving a significant amount of heightened attention from the banks; consequently the continued demand for private, corporate and institutional bankers remains high.
Market influences and renewed attention from regulatory bodies in Singapore, coupled with the rapid and significant head count and products growth of the banks, are combining to create this demand. We are also seeing major bank-wide enhancement and re-engineering projects, many with a risk, system, or process focus, which will also contribute to the hotspots for staff.
Finally, senior operations professionals are a hotspot at present, in light of continued migration of roles from other geographies, and the continued organic growth of the support functions in Singapore.
Construction & Property
Candidates with seven or more years Singapore construction experience are the major hotspot of demand, with board registered architects and engineers required. With over US$20 billion of construction work either in design or construction stages in Singapore, this demand is acute across the range of skills.
In addition, candidates with rail experience are emerging as a hotspot since new rail lines are under design and construction over the next eight years. Finally, project managers with multi-storey building experience are required.
Finance Technology
Demand exists across the full gamut of skills, from the traditional focus of development and support functions, to the recent increase in demand for project skills such as business analysts, project and programme managers. Hot technical skills in the development world at present include C++ and Java developers with strong server-side/real-time specific development skills, and candidates aware of latency issues and how to design and develop high thru-put systems.
Oil & Gas
Across the Asia Pacific region and globally, the oil and gas market remains hugely candidate-short. The prime hotspot in Singapore exists for design and construction engineers with between five to 20 years relevant experience in the industry. The offshore market is particularly short of skilled, experienced, engineers. Singapore is the Asia Pacific headquarters for all major offshore construction and design contractors; they are all busy and all looking for very similar people with high levels of future work driving this demand.
The high price and forecasted increasing demand for oil and gas is ensuring more fields are becoming feasible for development. It is also driving the major oil companies to commit and fast-track major developments throughout the region, meaning the demand for candidates with experience supporting the development of oilfields, from geologists, to design engineers and technicians, is high.
There is also considerable demand for Singaporean and Malaysian candidates with relevant experience, since Singapore’s oil and gas industry has in the past been run predominantly by Western expatriates with experience from the North Sea or Gulf of Mexico. More broadly, there is a demand across the whole industry for staff, from drilling to exploration, geoscience, operations and project controls.
The Hays Quarterly Forecast can be viewed at www.hays.sg/forecast
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